BOSTON — A friend of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev has been released from federal custody while he awaits trial for allegedly lying to federal investigators probing the April 15 bombings.

Robel Phillipos was charged last week and faces up to eight years in prison if convicted. The 19-year-old was a student at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth with Tsarnaev.

Prosecutors initially asked that Phillipos be held while he awaits trial, arguing that he poses a serious flight risk.

But prosecutors and Phillipos’ lawyers said Monday in a joint motion they now agree that Phillipos can be released under strict conditions, including home confinement, monitoring with an electronic bracelet and a $100,000 secured bond.

Magistrate Judge Marianne Bowler agreed to the request during a hearing Monday afternoon.

“We are confident that in the end we will be able to clear his name,” defence attorney Derege Demissie said.

Assistant U.S. Attorney John Capin said documents filed over the weekend by Phillipos’ defence attorneys, including many affidavits showing support from family and friends, might be viewed as indirectly questioning the government’s case against Phillipos.

“The government stands by its allegations,” Capin said.

Defence attorney Susan Church described Phillipos as a well-liked, honour roll student with many friends and supporters. At least 50 relatives, friends and other supporters attended the court hearing.

Church emphasized that Phillipos is not accused of helping Tsarnaev and his brother plan or carry out the bombings.

“At no time did Robel have any prior knowledge of this marathon bombing,” she said.

Magistrate Judge Marianne Bowler agreed to the strict house arrest during a hearing Monday afternoon. She told Phillipos he was allowed to leave the house only for meetings with his lawyers or true emergencies.

At no time did Robel have any prior knowledge of this marathon bombing

A huge crowd of supporters, including Phillipos’ relatives, friends and grade-school principal, showed up to the courthouse for the detention hearing. It was not immediately clear when Phillipos would be released.

Meanwhile, a funeral director trying to find a cemetery to take the body of Tsarnaev’s older brother and alleged accomplice, Tamerlan, pledged to ask the city of Cambridge to allow him to be buried in a city-owned cemetery because the brothers lived in Cambridge for the last decade.

But Cambridge City Manager Robert Healy said he is urging Tsarnaev’s family not to make the request.

“The difficult and stressful efforts of the citizens of the City of Cambridge to return to a peaceful life would be adversely impacted by the turmoil, protests, and wide spread media presence at such an interment,” Healy said in a statement Sunday.

Funeral director Peter Stefan said hasn’t been able to find a cemetery in Massachusetts willing to accept the remains of Tamerlan, who was killed following a gunbattle with police four days after the bombings. He said if Cambridge turns him down, he will seek help from state officials. Stefan said Monday that he is looking outside of Massachusetts and does not think Russia will take the body.

Gov. Deval Patrick said Monday the question of what to do with the body is a “family issue” that should not be decided by the state or federal government. He said family members had “options” and he hoped they would make a decision soon.

He declined to say whether he thought it would be appropriate for the body to be buried in Massachusetts.

“We showed the world in the immediate aftermath of the attacks what a civilization looks like, and I’m proud of what we showed, and I think we continue to do that by stepping back and let the family make their decisions,” the governor told reporters.

We showed the world in the immediate aftermath of the attacks what a civilization looks like, and I’m proud of what we showed, and I think we continue to do that by stepping back and let the family make their decisions

Phillipos is accused of lying to investigators about visiting Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s college dorm room on April 18, three days after the bombings. Two other friends were charged with conspiring to obstruct justice by taking a backpack with fireworks and a laptop from Tsarnaev’s dorm room. All four had studied at UMass Dartmouth.

The Tsarnaev brothers are accused of carrying out the bombings using pressure cookers packed with explosives, nails, ball bearings and metal shards. The attack killed three people and injured more than 260 others near the marathon’s finish line.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was captured and remains in a prison hospital. He has been charged with using a weapon of mass destruction and faces a potential death sentence if convicted.

The Rhode Island medical examiner’s office says a body found in Providence is that of a Brown University student missing since last month.

Health Department spokeswoman Dara Chadwick says the body of 22-year-old Sunil Tripathi was identified Thursday morning through a forensic dental exam. The cause of death has not been determined. Tripathi was erroneously linked on social media to the Boston bombings last week.

Police found the corpse floating in the Providence River. It appeared to be that of a male in his 20s and had “been in the water for a while,” Commander Thomas Oates of the Providence Police Department, told ABC News Wednesday.

Mr. Tripathi, a 22-year-old philosophy major from Radnor, Pa., was last seen on March 16.

However, he was at the centre of a social media firestorm last week after the Federal Bureau of Investigation released a photograph of one of the Boston Marathon bombing suspects wearing a white baseball cap.

Related

Last Thursday night, Internet users and some news organizations thought they saw a link between the search for the bombing suspects — Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev — and the missing student because some believed Mr. Tripathi looked like the photo of one of the suspects.

The rumour caught fire, and news media vans staked out the home of Mr. Tripathi’s parents, in Bryn Mawr, Pa. His sister Sangeeta received 58 calls from reporters between 3 a.m. and 4:11 a.m. on Friday.

The FBI’s release of the identification of the Tsarnaev brothers squelched the rumours, but left the family no closer to finding the missing student.

Mr. Tripathi had taken a leave of absence from Brown University last spring, but was still living in Providence, R.I.

“He admitted to some depression, but he said he could figure it out, that he could handle it,” said his mother.

The family had set up a Facebook page to try to find him, featuring videos and photos of their search. Dozens of people contributed messages after Mr. Tripathi was wrongly linked to events in Boston.

“A tremendous and painful amount of attention has been cast on our beloved Sunil Tripathi,” the family said in statement after Mr. Tripathi’s name began trending in relation to the explosions in Boston.

On Monday, Erik Martin, general manager of Reddit, a social news and entertainment website, apologized for the “dangerous speculation [that] spiraled into very negative consequences for innocent parties.”

“The Reddit staff and the millions of people on Reddit around the world deeply regret that this happened,” he wrote in a blog pos.

“We all need to look at what happened and make sure that in the future we do everything we can to help and not hinder crisis situations.”

]]>http://news.nationalpost.com/news/rhode-island/feed0stdSunil Tripathi, in a picture from his Facebook page.Dzhokhar Tsarnaev admitted to Boston bombing … before he was read his Miranda rights: officialshttp://news.nationalpost.com/news/dzhokhar-tsarnaev-admitted-to-boston-bombing-before-he-was-read-his-miranda-rights-officials
http://news.nationalpost.com/news/dzhokhar-tsarnaev-admitted-to-boston-bombing-before-he-was-read-his-miranda-rights-officials#commentsThu, 25 Apr 2013 02:32:37 +0000http://news.nationalpost.com/?p=298614

BOSTON — The surviving suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings acknowledged to the FBI his role in the attacks but did so before he was advised of his constitutional rights to keep quiet and seek a lawyer, officials said Wednesday.

It is unclear whether those statements before the Miranda rights warning would be admissible in a criminal trial and, if not, whether prosecutors even need them to win a conviction. Officials said physical evidence, including a 9 mm handgun and pieces of a remote-control device commonly used in toys, was recovered from the scene.

The suspect, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, told authorities that his older brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, only recently recruited him to be part of the attack, two U.S. officials said. The CIA, however, named Tamerlan to a terrorist database 18 months ago, officials said Wednesday, an acknowledgment that will undoubtedly prompt congressional inquiry about whether investigators took warnings from Russian intelligence officials seriously enough.

The U.S. officials who spoke to The Associated Press were close to the investigation but insisted on anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the case with reporters.

Tamerlan, whom authorities have described as the driving force behind the plot, was killed in a shootout with police. Dzhokhar is recovering in a hospital from injuries sustained during a getaway attempt.

Authorities had previously said Dzhokhar exchanged gunfire with them for more than an hour Friday night before they captured him inside a boat covered by a tarp in a suburban Boston neighborhood backyard. But two U.S. officials said Wednesday that he was unarmed when captured, raising questions about the gunfire and how he was injured.

More than 4,000 mourners at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology paid tribute to a campus police officer who authorities say was gunned down by the bombing suspects.

Among the speakers in Cambridge, just outside Boston, was Vice President Joe Biden, who condemned the bombing suspects as “two twisted, perverted, cowardly, knockoff jihadis.”

Investigators have said the brothers appeared to have been radicalized through jihadist materials on the Internet and have found no evidence tying them to a terrorist group.

Dzhokhar told the FBI that they were angry about the U.S. wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and the killing of Muslims there, officials said.

How much of those conversations will end up in court is unclear. The FBI normally tells suspects they have the right to remain silent before questioning them so all their statements can be used against them.

AP Photo / The Boston Globe, David L. RyanInvestigators from the FBI inspect the boat where Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was found hiding on Friday night in a backyard in Watertown, Mass., Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Under pressure from Congress, however, the Department of Justice has said investigators may wait until they have gathered intelligence about other threats before reading those rights in terrorism cases. The American Civil Liberties Union has expressed concern about that.

Regardless, investigators have found pieces of remote-control equipment among the debris and were analyzing them, officials said. One official described the detonator as “close-controlled,” meaning it had to be triggered within several blocks of the bombs.

They also recovered a 9 mm handgun believed to have been used by Tamerlan from the site of a Thursday night gunbattle that injured a Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority officer, two U.S. officials said.

The officials told the AP that no gun was found in the boat. Boston police Commissioner Ed Davis said earlier that shots were fired from inside the boat.

Asked whether the suspect had a gun in the boat, Davis said, “I’m not going to talk about that.”

Kurt Schwartz, director of the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency, did respond to the report.

“Within half a mile of where this person was captured, a police officer was shot. And I know who shot him.” Schwartz said. “And there were three bombs that went off, and I know where those bombs came from. … To me, it does not change anything. This guy was captured alive and will survive. True or not true, it doesn’t change anything for me.”

Within half a mile of where this person was captured, a police officer was shot. And I know who shot him

Dzhokhar’s public defender had no comment on the matter Wednesday. His father has called him a “true angel,” and an aunt has insisted he’s not guilty.

The suspects’ parents, Anzor Tsarnaev and Zubeidat Tsarnaeva, plan to fly to the U.S. from Russia on Thursday, the father was quoted as telling the Russian state news agency RIA Novosti. The family has said it wants to take Tamerlan’s body back to Russia.

In Russia, U.S. investigators traveled to the predominantly Muslim province of Dagestan and were in contact with the brothers’ parents, hoping to gain more information.

Investigators are looking into whether Tamerlan, who spent six months in Russia’s turbulent Caucasus region in 2012, was influenced by the religious extremists who have waged an insurgency against Russian forces in the area for years. The brothers have roots in Dagestan and neighboring Chechnya but had lived in the U.S. for about a decade.

At MIT, bagpipes wailed as students, faculty and staff members and throngs of law enforcement officials paid their respects to MIT police Officer Sean Collier, who was ambushed in his cruiser three days after the bombing.

The line of mourners stretched for a half-mile. They had to make their way through tight security, including metal detectors and bomb-sniffing dogs.

Boston native James Taylor sang “The Water is Wide” and led a sing-along of “Shower the People.”

Biden told the Collier family that no child should die before his or her parents, but that, in time, the grief will lose some of its sting.

“The moment will come when the memory of Sean is triggered and you know it’s going to be OK,” Biden said. “When the first instinct is to get a smile on your lips before a tear to your eye.”

The vice president also sounded a defiant note.

“The purpose of terror is to instill fear,” he said. “You saw none of it here in Boston. Boston, you sent a powerful message to the world.”

In another milestone in Boston’s recovery, the area around the marathon finish line was reopened to the public, with fresh cement still drying on the repaired sidewalk. Delivery trucks made their way down Boylston Street under a heavy police presence, though some damaged stores were still closed.

“I don’t think there’s going to be a sense of normalcy for a while,” Tom Champoux, who works nearby, said as he pointed to the boarded-up windows. “There are scars here that will be with us for a long time.”

The two suspects in the Boston Marathon bombing killed an MIT police officer and hurled explosives at police in a car chase and gun battle overnight that left one of them dead and his brother on the loose, authorities said Friday as thousands of officers swarmed the streets in a manhunt that all but paralyzed the Boston area.

The suspects were identified by law enforcement officials and a family member as Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev, brothers from a Russian region near Chechnya, which has been plagued by an Islamic insurgency that has carried out deadly bombings.

Tamerlan Tsarnaev, who had been known to the FBI as Suspect No. 1 and was seen in surveillance footage in a black baseball cap, was killed overnight, officials said. His 19-year-old brother – dubbed Suspect No. 2 and seen wearing a white, backward baseball cap in the images from Monday’s deadly bombing at the marathon finish line – escaped.

The law enforcement officials spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the unfolding case.

Authorities in Boston suspended all mass transit and warned close to 1 million people in the entire city and some of its suburbs to stay indoors as the hunt went on. Businesses were asked not to open. People waiting at bus and subway stops were told to go home.

“We believe this man to be a terrorist,” said Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis. “We believe this to be a man who’s come here to kill people.”

The bombings on Monday killed three people and wounded more than 180 others, tearing off limbs in a spray of shrapnel and instantly raising the specter of another terrorist attack on U.S. soil.

The endgame – at least for Suspect No. 1 – came just hours after the FBI released photos and video of the two young men at the finish line and appealed to the public for help in identifying and capturing them. Tips came pouring in to the FBI immediately, but exactly how authorities managed to close in on the two young men was not immediately disclosed.

The men’s’ uncle, Ruslan Tsarni of Montgomery Village, Md., told The Associated Press that the men lived together near Boston and had been in the U.S. for about a decade. They traveled here together from the Russian region near Chechnya.

Following scenes of gunfire and explosions in the Boston neighbourhood of Watertown Thursday night, one suspect has been killed and another is at large in an episode that may be connected to Monday’s Boston Marathon bombing.

The Boston Globe and ABC News were reporting that the two suspects were indeed linked to Monday’s attack, although police had refused to confirm a link.

Just before 4 a.m., an officer overheard on a Boston police scanner reported that officers remained on the lookout for a “white male with dark complexion, or a Middle Eastern male … [wearing] a grey hoodie.”

“Police will be going door by door, street by street, in and around Watertown. Police will be clearly identified. It is a fluid situation,” read a 3:45 a.m. Tweet by the Massachusetts State Police.

Police were telling residents not to open their doors or stop their cars for anyone except a uniformed police officer.

As of Friday morning, an MIT police officer had been killed and a Boston transit officer was reportedly undergoing surgery after having been shot.

The wide-ranging search came just as the FBI released new, clearer images of two men suspected in the marathon bombings, reporting that they were “armed and extremely dangerous.”

Events began just before 11 p.m. ET when reports emerged that an MIT police officer had been shot dead on campus.

Darren McCollester/Getty ImagesPolice descend on School and Walnut streets in search of suspects April 19, 2013 in Watertown, Massachusetts. Earlier, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology campus police officer was shot and killed late Thursday night at the school's campus in Cambridge.

Shortly after, police FBI and National Guard units were scrambled into the Boston neighbourhood of Watertown in the wake of a reported carjacking. Nearby residents reported hearing repeated explosions as well as sustained exchanges of gunfire, with police telling bystanders to clear out due to an “active shooter” in the area.

According to the New York Times, police were exchanging fire with two young men wearing backpacks, armed with long guns and explosives and taking cover behind a black Mercedes SUV. At one point, the men are said to have thrown a “large and unwieldy” explosive towards officers, although it did not travel far.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z561GZly6Wo&w=620&h=349]

A widely circulated photo by a local resident shows a bullet hole passing clean through a wall and a computer room chair. Another resident published a photo of a “dozen” officers streaming into their backyard.

Television footage broadcast early Friday morning showed a man spread-eagled on the pavement as police approached to bring him into custody. As of early Friday morning, multiple media networks are reporting a link between the man and the Monday afternoon bombings of the Boston Marathon which killed three and injured nearly 200.

Craig Ruttle / The Associated PressPolice officers search an area of the Massachuettes Institute of Technology early Friday morning, April 19, 2013, in Cambridge, Mass.

Bomb disposal robots were dispatched into Watertown early Friday morning to defuse a number of explosives that were reportedly thrown onto the street by the retreating suspects. At least one device was destroyed in a controlled detonation, with residents advised of the explosion by a sustained airhorn blast.

“MIT is heartbroken by the news that an MIT Police officer was shot and killed in the line of duty on Thursday night on campus,” wrote the university in a Friday morning press release, adding that the suspects were deemed to have moved off campus by 2 a.m. and it was “safe to resume normal activities.”

Mario Tama/Getty ImagesA police officer with gun drawn searches for a suspect on April 19, 2013 in Watertown, Massachusetts.

Julio Cortez / The Associated PressOfficials stand guard at Massachusetts Institute of Technology following a shooting on Friday, April 19, 2013, in Boston.

MIT releases statement after police officer dies in line of duty
MIT is heartbroken by the news that an MIT Police officer was shot and killed in the line of duty on Thursday night on campus, near Building 32 (the Stata Center). Our thoughts are now with the family.

At around 2 a.m., MIT Police determined that the suspect was no longer on campus, and that it is safe to resume normal activities. However, the MIT Police ask that members of the MIT Community remain vigilant in the coming hours.

MIT worked with multiple police departments in order to ensure the safety of the MIT campus. Police officers swept the campus in search of the shooter, and MIT sent text and email messages to the members of the MIT community asking them to stay indoors while the search continued.

NEW YORK — For about an hour Wednesday afternoon, people could flip through different television channels and hear completely different accounts of the investigation into the Boston Marathon explosions: Some news organizations reported the arrest of a suspect and then took those claims back.

CNN, Fox News Channel and the Boston Globe said that a suspect in Monday’s bombing had been arrested. The Associated Press said a suspect had been taken into custody. Within an hour, the FBI denied that a suspect had been captured, leading the three news organizations that had reported the arrest to back down from those claims.

The AP, while reporting the federal denial, said that its original source was standing by its claim that a suspect had been taken into custody. The news co-operative said its source was a law enforcement official speaking on condition of anonymity.

Despite reports to the contrary there has not been an arrest in the Marathon attack.

ABC, CBS and NBC all broke into their regular programming to report progress in the case, but did not say there was an arrest or someone brought into custody.

The frantic afternoon presented another example of news organizations being embarrassed by a race to report information under intense competitive pressure. It was reminiscent of the day last year that the Supreme Court handed down its decision on President Obama’s health care plan, when both CNN and Fox initially got the ruling wrong in their haste to report it.

In Wednesday’s scenario, CNN’s John King had jumped out early around lunchtime, saying that a department store’s surveillance camera had helped law enforcement spot a person dropping a container on the street that was believed to be the second of two bombs that detonated near the race’s finish line.

King reported at 1:45 p.m. that an arrest had been made. The Boston Globe tweeted the same thing at 1:53, attributing it to an unnamed official. Six minutes later the Globe sent out a second tweet, saying CNN was the source of its arrest report. Fox News Channel’s Megyn Kelly said at 1:55 that the network had been told of an arrest.

The Associated Press sent out a NewsAlert at 1:53 saying that an arrest was imminent. At 2:14, the AP said a suspect had been taken into custody, but did not say there was an arrest.

The three biggest broadcast networks jumped into the story with cautious reports of progress within five minutes of each other shortly before 2 p.m. NBC reporter Pete Williams was insistent that news organizations reporting an arrest had jumped the gun.

“From the beginning of this, this has been the hallmark of this story — information going in totally different directions coming from normally very reliable sources,” Williams said. “We can’t just flip a coin on this.”

At 2:15 on MSNBC, Williams said that “at the end of the day, somebody is going to be right, because every news organization is reporting something different.”

King’s exclusive then began to be shot down by three different CNN reporters giving their own on-air reports: Fran Townsend, Joe Johns and Tom Fuentes.

As Chris Cuomo was saying on the air that “we don’t know what’s right or not right at this point,” the onscreen crawl was still reporting that an arrest had been made.

Spencer Platt/Getty ImagesInvestigators stand at the scene of twin bombings at the Boston Marathon on April 17, 2013 in Boston, Massachusetts.

CNN spokeswoman Barbara Levin noted that the network had three credible sources on the local and federal levels for King’s initial report. “Based on this information, we reported our findings,” she said. “As soon as our sources came to us with new information, we adjusted our reporting.”

On Fox, Kelly was dialing back that network’s arrest claim, noting the conflicting reports. At 2:15, Kelly told viewers that two law enforcement officials had told Fox there had been an arrest.

“Other news outlets — some are reporting that an arrest has been made and some are reporting that that is not the case,” she said. “Here’s the truth: We don’t know … We just want to be transparent with you on the information that is coming in a breaking news situation that seems to be anything but clear at this moment.”

The Globe at 2:40 p.m. reported that both the United States attorney and Boston police said there was no arrest.

The FBI statement denying the arrest, which was transmitted on the AP wire at 2:59, quieted the television chatter about whether a suspect had been captured.

During his initial reporting, King had said that law enforcement officials had told him that a “dark-skinned male” had been spotted leaving the package believed to be a bomb. King said he was reluctant to give that description, which can inflame racial sensitivities. An hour later CBS News contradicted him, tweeting that authorities are seeking a “white male” as a bombing suspect.

‘Here’s the truth: We don’t know’

None of the news organizations named the officials that they were speaking to during their reporting.

Earlier, investigators recovered a piece of circuit board that they believe was part of one of the explosive devices, and also found the lid of a pressure cooker that apparently was catapulted onto the roof of a nearby building.

A law enforcement official briefed on the investigation confirmed to The Associated Press that authorities have recovered what they believe are some of the pieces of the explosive devices. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because this person was not authorized to publicly discuss evidence in the ongoing investigation.

A person close to the investigation previously told AP the bombs consisted of explosives put in 1.6-gallon pressure cookers, one with shards of metal and ball bearings, the other with nails.

Also Wednesday, a doctor at Boston Medical Center said two patients, including a 5-year-old child, remain in critical condition there. Dozens of others have been released from hospitals around Boston.

The three victims have been identified as Chinese student Lu Lingzi, Martin Richard, 8, and 29-year-old Krystle Campbell.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper took a swipe at Justin Trudeau on Wednesday after the new Liberal leader talked about the need “to look at the root causes” that led to this week’s terrorist attack in Boston.

In an interview with the CBC’s Peter Mansbridge that aired Tuesday night, Trudeau was asked how he would have responded to the attacks that killed three people and left about 170 injured.

Trudeau said he would offer the American material support “and at the same time, over the coming days, we have to look at the root causes.”

“Now, we don’t know now if it was terrorism or a single crazy or a domestic issue or a foreign issue,” he said. “But there is no question that this happened because there is someone who feels completely excluded. Completely at war with innocents. At war with a society. And our approach has to be, where do those tensions come from?

“Yes, there’s a need for security and response,” Trudeau added. “But we also need to make sure that as we go forward, that we don’t emphasize a culture of fear and mistrust. Because that ends up marginalizing even further those who already are feeling like they are enemies of society.”

Speaking to reporters in London where he was attending former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher’s funeral on Wednesday, Harper indicated Trudeau’s answer was unacceptable.

“When you see this kind of action, when you see this kind of violent act, you do not sit around trying to rationalize it or make excuses for it or figure out its root causes,” Harper said.

“You condemn it categorically and to the extent that you can deal with the perpetrators you deal with them as harshly as possible and that is what this government would do if it ever was faced with such actions.”

Asked to explain his comments following his first meeting with the Liberal caucus Wednesday afternoon on Parliament Hill, Trudeau repeated his condolences to the victims and their families.

“Obviously we have to make sure that as we move forward,” he said, “we look at creating a safe community, a safe country, a safe world for all citizens and all individuals and that happens with both security and with a significant commitment to peace as highlighted in our Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.”

Earlier in the day, Trudeau marked his first caucus meeting as leader with a tribute to the charter, which his father championed exactly 31 years earlier.

Escorted into the meeting room by a throng of clapping, cheering staff and parliamentarians, Trudeau said his party’s support for the charter was one thing that separated Liberals from Conservatives and New Democrats.

“The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedom is at the centre of what it means to be a Liberal,” he said. “Conservatives talk a good game about being a party of freedom. But they are mistrustful of the mechanisms that actually ensure those freedoms for Canadians. And that’s why they don’t celebrate the charter.”

The Harper government was criticized for not marking either the 25th anniversary of the Charter in 2007, or the 30th anniversary last year.

Conservatives talk a good game about being a party of freedom. But they are mistrustful of the mechanisms that actually ensure those freedoms for Canadians. And that’s why they don’t celebrate the charter

Some Conservatives have argued the document empowers individuals at the cost of the societal good, though the prime minister told reporters in Chile last year that constitutional “divisions” were more to blame for such problems.

“In terms of this as an anniversary, I think it’s an interesting and important step, but I would point out that the charter remains inextricably linked to the patriation of the Constitution and the divisions around that matter, which as you know are still very real in some parts of the country,” Harper said at the time.

Trudeau didn’t stop at the Conservatives, accusing the NDP of taking a poor view of the document as part of its effort to appeal to Quebecers.

“The NDP also find themselves to be deeply conflicted about the Charter of Rights and Freedoms,” he said, “largely because of a political calculation they’ve made pandering to … very vocal sovereigntist Quebecers who do not particularly appreciate the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.”

NDP Leader Tom Mulcair said the notion that his party is pandering to Quebecers is “completely false” and suggested the Liberals are trying to start fights and create divisions.

“We are the party that for the first time in a generation has won, for a federalist party, the majority of seats in Quebec. That’s something we should all be very happy about,” Mulcair said Wednesday.

“The NDP has fought more than any other party to get Quebec a place in Canada, to create winning conditions for all of us in this country and that’s the type of positive, optimistic political offer that the NDP is all about …”

The NDP has fought more than any other party to get Quebec a place in Canada, to create winning conditions for all of us in this country and that’s the type of positive, optimistic political offer that the NDP is all about …

During his address at the start of the caucus meeting, Trudeau reiterated that the party has hard work ahead as it prepares to fight the 2015 election.

Former Liberal leadership hopefuls Marc Garneau, Joyce Murray, Deborah Coyne, George Takach and Karen McCrimmon were among those in the room; Martha Hall Findlay, Martin Cauchon and David Bertschi were absent.

Trudeau announced former interim Liberal leader Bob Rae will be serving as the party’s foreign affairs critic, while Garneau will take over natural resources and Murray will continue as critic for the Asia-Pacific region and small business.

Several Liberals also confirmed Trudeau’s new chief of staff will be Cyrus Reporter.

Reporter previously worked as chief of staff to Liberal cabinet minister Allan Rock before working as a lobbyist on issues such as copyright law, trade and investment, telecommunications, energy and infrastructure.

More changes are expected in the coming weeks as Trudeau moves to set up his office and begin the work of rebuilding the Liberal Party in earnest.

However, officials have also indicated a major shake-up likely won’t come until at least the summer.

BOSTON — Federal officials are denying that a suspect is in custody in the Boston Marathon bombings.

A law enforcement official briefed on the investigation told The Associated Press on Wednesday a suspect was in custody.

But the FBI and the U.S. attorney’s office in Boston dispute that.

“Contrary to widespread reporting, no arrest has been made in connection with the Boston Marathon attack. Over the past day and a half, there have been a number of press reports based on information from unofficial sources that has been inaccurate. Since these stories often have unintended consequences, we ask the media, particularly at this early stage of the investigation, to exercise caution and attempt to verify information through appropriate official channels before reporting,” the FBI said in a tersely-worded statement.

The official who spoke to The Associated Press did so on condition of anonymity and stood by the information even after it was disputed.

Despite reports to the contrary there has not been an arrest in the Marathon attack.

CNN says a Lord & Taylor department store security camera and a local television station provided footage that helped investigators narrow in on an individual.

The Boston Globe says the suspect was spotted by the department store’s cameras at the second bombing location on Boylston Street.

A 5 p.m. EST press conference with the FBI and Boston police is expected to address the reports. Reuters said authorities will announce a “major break” in the case.

A federal courthouse in Boston has been evacuated. Attorney Francis DiMento says he was in a hearing when someone announced a “code red” on the loudspeaker and told everyone to get out in a hurry.

Crowds of reporters are gathered outside. The FBI and the U.S. attorney’s office in Boston say no arrests have been made in Monday’s bombing near the finish line of the world’s most famous marathon.

Earlier, investigators recovered a piece of circuit board that they believe was part of one of the explosive devices, and also found the lid of a pressure cooker that apparently was catapulted onto the roof of a nearby building.

A law enforcement official briefed on the investigation confirmed to The Associated Press that authorities have recovered what they believe are some of the pieces of the explosive devices. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because this person was not authorized to publicly discuss evidence in the ongoing investigation.

A person close to the investigation previously told AP the bombs consisted of explosives put in 1.6-gallon pressure cookers, one with shards of metal and ball bearings, the other with nails.

Also Wednesday, a doctor at Boston Medical Center said two patients, including a 5-year-old child, remain in critical condition there. Dozens of others have been released from hospitals around Boston.

The three victims have been identified as Chinese student Lu Lingzi, Martin Richard, 8, and 29-year-old Krystle Campbell.

With files from National Post staff

NPClick to enlarge

]]>http://news.nationalpost.com/news/authorities-identify-suspect-in-boston-marathon-bombing-caught-on-video-with-bag-reports/feed1stdBoston-bombingNPBoston Bombing victim Krystle Campbell's father was told she was alive due to mix up on way to hospitalhttp://news.nationalpost.com/news/boston-bombing-victim-krystle-campbells-father-was-told-she-was-alive-due-to-mix-up-on-way-to-hospital
http://news.nationalpost.com/news/boston-bombing-victim-krystle-campbells-father-was-told-she-was-alive-due-to-mix-up-on-way-to-hospital#commentsWed, 17 Apr 2013 16:12:42 +0000http://news.nationalpost.com/?p=294384

The father of Krystle Campbell, one of the three people killed in the Boston Marathon bombings was told that his daughter was alive and almost passed out when he found out she was dead.

Campbell’s father William was first told that his daughter had survived one of the two blasts, but was in surgery and could lose a leg.

Krystle’s grandmother, Lillian Campbell, told multiple media outlets that her granddaughter and a friend were together at the marathon and lay side by side on the ground after the bombs went off.

Somewhere on the way to the hospital, their names got mixed up.

Lillian Campbell says her son was “devastated” when he found out the truth and almost passed out.

Krystle Campbell was a restaurant manager who grew up in Medford but had moved to Arlington.

William Campbell said his daughter was “very caring, very loving person, and was Daddy’s little girl.”

Campbell told Yahoo News that ”She helped everybody, and I’m just so shocked right now. We’re just devastated. She was a wonderful, wonderful girl. Always willing to lend a hand.”

The restaurant manager had gone with a friend, Karen Rand, to take a picture of the Rand’s boyfriend crossing the finish line. According to Yahoo News, Rand survived, but was undergoing surgery for “serious injuries.” Cheryl Rand Engelhardt, reportedly the friend’s sister-in-law, wrote on Facebook that Rand was carrying Campbell’s ID, and was believed to be Krystle until she came out of surgery.

She certainly was a dream daughter, the daughter that every father dreams to have and friends of hers said that she was eager about life

Rand Engelhardt went on: ”No words can describe how much [Krystle] meant to all of us. She was an incredible woman, always full of energy and hard at work, but never too tired to share her love and a smile with everyone. She was an inspiration to all of us. Please keep her and her family in your thoughts and prayers. We are continuing to remain positive for Karen and ask that you keep her in your prayers as well.”

Medford Mayor Michael McGlynn said he had spoken with Campbell’s father.

“Mr. Campbell said that she certainly was a dream daughter, the daughter that every father dreams to have and friends of hers said that she was eager about life. She had a great sense of humor and freckles and red hair that brought her right to her Irish roots. She was someone who worked hard at everything she did,” McGlynn said. “Another friend said she may have been a little loud at times but it was a loudness you loved.”

The bombs that caused such devastation at the Boston Marathon have been called “crude.” But Jimmy Oxley, professor of chemistry at the University of Rhode Island, says that crude bombs can be extremely lethal

The attack targeting Monday’s Boston Marathon shocked the world, but for those familiar with terrorist tactics, there is, unfortunately, not much shocking about the injuries that the bombs inflicted.

The carnage wrought by the explosives fits with what devices of this type, power and placement are designed to cause: severed limbs, broken bones, embedded shrapnel — and death.

“This bomb, obviously, was placed probably low, on the ground, and therefore lower extremity injuries are to be expected,” said Dr. George Velmahos, Chief of Trauma, Emergency Surgery and Surgical Critical Care at Massachusetts General Hospital, who operated on some of the injured. The surgeries, he said, are “predominantly, unfortunately, amputations because of the devastating effect of bombs.”

Three people died after two bombs detonated near the finish line of what is perhaps the world’s most famous race, with 176 others wounded, many seriously. Officials could not rule out further deaths among the injured.

“Many of them have severe wounds, mostly in the lower parts of their bodies, wounds related to the blast effect of the bombs, as well as small metallic, fragments that entered their body — pellets, shrapnel, nails — that these bombs had,” said Dr. Velmahos.

Some of the shrapnel may have been debris near the bombs sent flying by the blast. But the bombs appear to have been purposely packed with ball bearings and metal to maximize casualties, doctors said.

NPClick to enlarge

“The limbs are certainly mangled,” Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center’s Emergency Room Specialist Steven Epstein told reporters. “Limbs that were severed, limbs that, you know, we hope we can save, and some that we might not be able to save.”

Surgeons were left to deal with injuries more common on the modern battlefield than in city hospitals.

Most trauma wounds common to North American cities involve blunt-force injury, such as from car accidents. It was in Iraq and Afghanistan that military surgeons became accustomed to treating the penetrating injuries typical from improvised explosive devices.

Other injuries Monday ranged from eardrum damage and burns from the blast, to airway damage from breathing smoke, and sprains suffered in the commotion after the blast.

Victims needing emergency treatment were spread between major Boston-area hospitals.

Massachusetts General treated 31 patients, including eight who remain in critical condition.

Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center treated 24 patients, two of whom were in critical condition, four in intensive care, and two in serious condition.

Brigham and Women’s Hospital treated 31 patients, eight of them children. Fifteen remained in hospital Tuesday evening; five of them in critical condition. Nine required surgery, one of them requiring an amputation.

Boston Medical Center treated 23 patients, including 10 in critical condition, three in serious condition and six in fair condition.

The bombs that sprayed shrapnel into the crowd at the Boston Marathon finish line were crude devices made from pressure cookers packed with ball bearings, nails and metal shards, sources told news agencies Tuesday.

The six-litre pressure cooker bombs were hidden in bags left at ground level at two locations along the marathon route, The Associated Press reported, citing a source who had been briefed on the investigation.

FBI/The Associated PressThe remains of a black backpack that the FBI says contained one of the bombs that exploded during the Boston Marathon.

The account is consistent with reports from doctors, who have described leg injuries caused by ball bearings and nails. Meanwhile, CNN reported the bombs had likely been detonated using timers rather than cellphones.

But while investigators appeared to have determined how the bombs went off, there was still no hint of why. President Barack Obama called the attack an act of terrorism but said officials could not yet say whether it was the work of domestic extremists, international terrorists or a “malevolent individual.”

The lack of sophistication of the bombs suggests it may have been a “lone wolf” acting out a grievance that remains elusive. Some experts have pointed to the symbolism of Patriots Day, which marks the anniversary of the start of the American Revolution, while others have noted that al-Qaeda had long used pressure cooker bombs.

As recently as March, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula circulated a how-to guide for making pressure cooker bombs in an online manual called the Lone Mujahedin Handbook. The introduction called for solo terrorist attacks “inside the West.”

It cited the example of Faizal Shahzad, who tried to set off pressure cooker bombs in Times Square in 2010, but failed. The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for the botched attack but has denied any role in the Boston carnage.

Even though al-Qaeda has encouraged pressure cooker attacks, anyone could have used the tactic because the plans are on the Internet. The SITE Intelligence Group noted that al-Qaeda manuals had been distributed on a white supremacist Internet forum, where they were labelled “highly recommended reading.”

AP Photo/WBZTVIn this image from video provided by WBZ TV, spectators and runners run from what was described as twin explosions that shook the finish line of the Boston Marathon, Monday, April 15, 2013.

Pressure cookers are pots with tight-fitting lids. When filled with explosives and metal shards, the result is a significant blast. They can also be made from readily available parts. When al-Qaeda distributed instructions for making them, it titled the guide, “Make a Bomb in the Kitchen of Your Mom.”

“As a common cooking utensil the pressure cooker is often overlooked when searching vehicles, residences or merchandise crossing U.S. borders,” according to a 2004 U.S. intelligence bulletin obtained by the National Post.

U.S. authorities have been warning about the dangers of pressure cooker bombs for almost a decade, after they turned up in India, Nepal and France, where Algerian terrorists attempted to bomb a Christmas market in 2003.

“Recent reporting indicates that terrorist organizations such as al-Qaeda continue to favour the use of pressure cookers packed with explosives, a technique commonly taught in Afghan terrorist training camps,” the intelligence bulletin warned.

Chief Bill Blair said police are taking another look at security arrangements for the upcoming Toronto marathon and other large crowd events in the wake of the bombings in Boston.

However, he stressed there is no intelligence that suggests a “credible threat” locally. The Goodlife Fitness Marathon is scheduled for May 5. About 14,000 runners are registered to compete.

“I believe we have to carry on in the absence of an identifiable threat — and there is not one for the city of Toronto,” Chief Bill Blair told reporters at city hall, where he spoke on the casino issue.

Chief Blair noted there is still “a great deal unknown” about what happened at the famed Boston Marathon, where two bombs exploded on Monday, killing three people and wounding more than 170. The chief said he has been in communication with national and American law enforcement outfits. “It’s important to reiterate that there is at the present time no intelligence which indicates any credible threat locally here in Toronto.”

BOSTON — The boy who was killed in the Boston Marathon bombings was remembered by neighbours Tuesday as a vivacious 8-year-old who loved to run and climb.

Martin Richard was among the three people killed in the explosions Monday, according to U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch, a friend of the family for 25 years. The boy’s mother, Denise, and 6-year-old sister, Jane, were badly injured. His brother and father were also watching the race but were not hurt.

They had gone to get ice cream, then returned to the area near the finish line. Neighbor Jack Cunningham said Martin’s father was a runner but had been injured and didn’t run the marathon.

A statement from Bill Richard, Martin’s father, released on Tuesday said in part: “We thank our family and friends, those we know and those we have never met, for their thoughts and prayers. I ask that you continue to pray for my family as we remember Martin. We also ask for your patience and for privacy as we work to simultaneously grieve and recover.”

FacebookThe Ricard family before the Boston Bombing killed Martin, 8, and maimed their daughter.

“They were looking in the crowd as the runners were coming to see if they could identify some of their friends when the bomb hit,” Lynch said. He described the family as very strong and said they were doing better than might be expected.

On Tuesday morning, candle burned on the stoop of the family’s single-family home in the city’s Dorchester section, and “peace” was written in chalk on the front walkway. A child’s bicycle helmet lay overturned on the front lawn.

“What a gift. To know him was to love him,” said longtime friend Judy Tuttle, who remembered sitting at the dining room table having tea with Denise Richard while Martin did his homework. “He had that million-dollar smile and you never knew what was going to come out of him. Denise is the most spectacular mother that you’ve ever met and Bill is a pillar of the community. It doesn’t get any better than these people.”

Neighbor Betty Delorey, 80, said Martin loved to climb the neighbourhood trees and hop the fence outside his home.

“I can just remember his mother calling him, ’Martin!’ if he was doing something wrong,” she said. “Just a vivacious little kid.”

Delorey had a photo showing Martin dressed as the character Woody from the Toy Story films, wearing a cowboy hat, a sheriff’s badge, jeans and a big smile. His sister, Jane, was at his right dressed as Woody’s friend, Jesse. Their older brother, Henry, was to their left, dressed as Harry Potter.

The children’s father, Bill, is the director of a local community group, and an avid runner and bicyclist.

Denise Richard works as a librarian at the Neighborhood House Charter School, where Martin was a third-grader and Jane attends first grade.

Counsellors were being made available Tuesday to staff and students, said Bodi Luse, a school spokeswoman.

“We are devastated,” she said. “The whole community is devastated.”

Cunningham remembered running in a community 5K race with the Richard family on a rainy day years ago. He said Martin would jump out of a stroller that his mother was pushing to hop in the mud puddles along the route.

“I just can’t get a handle on it,” he said of the boy’s death. “In an instant, life changes.”

A statement released on Tuesday afternoon from Bill Richard, Martin’s father:

“My dear son Martin has died from injuries sustained in the attack on Boston. My wife and daughter are both recovering from serious injuries. We thank our family and friends, those we know and those we have never met, for their thoughts and prayers. I ask that you continue to pray for my family as we remember Martin. We also ask for your patience and for privacy as we work to simultaneously grieve and recover. Thank you.”

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford says the city government is reassessing all upcoming public events to ensure they are safe following the Boston Marathon bombings, but he has been told by police there is no immediate threat to the city.

“This tragic and shocking crime defies our imagination,” said Mayor Ford, who interrupted a meeting on a casino to extend his sympathies to the people of Boston.

His office has also offered assistance, should it be needed, to the mayor of Boston.

“Police report that there is no immediate threat to the city but we are going to continuing monitoring the situation to make sure residents are protected,” Mayor Ford said.

City manager Joe Pennachetti added that city staff are working closely with police to make sure “you feel safe” at public events.

Mr. Ford said more than 200 Torontonians were participating in the marathon.

The best clues to the identity of terrorists who planted bombs at the Boston Marathon lie in the explosive devices themselves.

Monday night the FBI said it was too soon to say whether domestic or foreign attackers were responsible for the twin bombs that caused chaos and devastation.

But Fred Burton, vice president of intelligence at Strategic Forecasting in Austin, Texas, said forensic scientists would glean plenty of information from the bomb remnants.

“The sophistication of the [improvised explosive devices] once they are analyzed will be telling,” he said. “There is a ton of information that investigators can gather from the scene of a bombing that can lead them to suspects.”

David L Ryan/Boston Globe Staff PhotoThe scene after the second explosion at the Boston Marathon.

Mr. Burton served as the deputy chief of counter-terrorism for the United States Diplomatic Security Service, where he investigated numerous terrorist attacks including the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. He detailed how officials will begin to track down suspects in Monday’s attack, which killed two and injured more than 100 near the finish line of the famous race.

“Bomb makers all have unique signatures,” he explained. “For example, they each crimp wires exactly the same in every bomb they make. They also utilize fragmentation in a similar way. So there is a lot of evidence that forensic investigators can use to determine the source of the bombs.”

CLICK TO ENLARGE

Another detail investigators will study is the proximity of the bombs, both in time and space. That could shed light on whether the culprit is a “lone wolf or part of a group,” Mr. Burton said. But at this point, it is impossible to speculate on who that may be.

“There is no shortage of bomb makers out there. From [America’s] endless war on terror, we have a whole range of actors, many of which have been trained on the battlefield by our own government, like al-Qaeda.”

Bomb making doesn’t require a lot of technical expertise, but the weapons can be unpredictable.

“It is harder than it sounds to actually get a device to work,” Mr. Burton said. “It doesn’t take a lot of complexity to be able to put these things together, but to be able to sequence them so you have two that actually detonate shows a degree of experience. I have manufactured bombs in training environments and certainly blown them up, and it is harder than it looks.”

Of course, the timing and location of the attack will also provide investigators with valuable information on potential suspects.

This attack could “rewrite the rules at public sporting events,” Mr. Burton added. “It certainly is a brilliant soft-target selection just due to the scope and following of this kind of event, with spectators and participants from all over the world. So it is the kind of event that in retrospect will resonate as the kind of soft target that is vulnerable.”

John Tlumacki / Boston GlobeOfficials run away from the first explosion on Boylston Street at the Boston Marathon.

Blaine Penny, 38, had just completed the Boston Marathon Monday in two hours, 36 minutes. He was heading back to his hotel through the Boston Common, the city’s central park, when he was jolted by two deafening explosions about 400 or 500 metres away.

“It stopped me in my tracks. I could see smoke rising and knew it was serious,” the Calgary engineer recounted hours later. “It was really loud. It’s hard to describe. I was thinking gunshot, but no, it’s way too loud to be a gunshot.

“We all looked at each other. What the hell was that?”

Within a minute, the streets filled with emergency response vehicles and the echo of sirens.

Penny, like many other Canadians, was caught up in the horrific bombings that, so far, are known to have killed two people and injured about a dozen more.

Elite runner Rob Watson, 29, of Vancouver, was having a celebration lunch with his brother and sister-in-law at his hotel about 200 metres from the finish-line when the blasts went off.

“There were two really loud explosions,” a shaken Watson said by phone from his hotel room in downtown Boston.

“We really didn’t know what to think. We looked outside because we thought it was thunder, but it was sunny out. And then the security guards, the people who work for the hotel, they all took off. When they came back they told us they had the hotel on lockdown.”

Watson, who placed 11th in the legendary marathon with a time of two hours, 15 minutes, said he and his family spent about 30 minutes with frantic hotel guests gathered in a room while police and emergency crews converged on the chaotic scene outside.

Watson said many of the Americans with him in the room were haunted by memories of 9/11.

“People were freaking out. There were lots of tears. People were running around,” he said.

John Tlumacki/The Boston Globe The scene moments after the explosion

“People didn’t know what the hell was happening.”

Windsor’s Ron Drouillard had just finished the race and was heading back to his hotel room for a nap when he heard the explosions.

“He’s looking for his friends,” said his wife, Ayeesha, who spoke to him shortly after the explosions. “Everyone is just running around and screaming. It’s like total chaos.”

Two Canadian political figures were also among the 2,078 Canadians registered to run Monday.

Yukon MP Ryan Leef finished the race. Former federal cabinet minister Stockwell Day was also registered to run, but the race website indicated he hadn’t crossed the finish line.

Leef told Postmedia News via Twitter: “I’m ok. I cleared the finish line before the explosion. I was 4 blocks out. Watched the emergency response race to the scene, but I couldn’t see the finish area by then.”

AP Photo/The Boston Globe, John TlumackiPeople react to the explosion.

In a follow-up email, he said: “What a terrible thing to have happen to people, in what should have been their greatest of accomplishments.

“My thoughts are obviously with my fellow runners, organizers, volunteers, spectators and the families of the victims. We’ll all remember the 117th running of the Boston Marathon, but now, sadly, for a far different reason than we all wanted at the start line this morning.”

Day could not immediately be reached for comment.

David L Ryan/Boston Globe Staff PhotoThe second explosion goes off

The Canadian Consulate in Boston is about 250 metres from the marathon finish line. Monday, it was in lockdown mode, and calls were referred to the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade in Ottawa. All staff in the consulate were accounted for, DFAIT said.

The Boston Police Department said two people were known to be killed and 23 others injured.

The Canadian government said Canadians in Boston requiring emergency assistance could contact the consulate at (617)247-5100, or 1-800-387-3124, or by sending an email to sos@international.gc.ca.

John Tlumacki/Boston GlobeA man comforts a victim on the sidewalk at the scene of the 1st explosion At the finish line of the Boston Marathon.

Kyle McLaughlin, 37, an emergency room physician from Canmore, Alta., had finished the race and was back in his hotel room a few blocks away from the finish line when he heard about the explosions.

“I’ve done ‘event’ medicine before and this would be extremely stressful for the medical volunteers that are on the scene,” said McLaughlin, who was on his second visit to Boston. “It looks like they did a fantastic job in a difficult, scary situation.”

Laura McLean, a runner from Toronto, was in the medical tent being treated for dehydration when she was pulled out to make room for victims of the explosions.

John Tlumacki/The Boston GlobeBoston police officers and Bill Iffrig just after an explosion near the finish line of the Boston Marathon, Monday, April 15, 2013.

McLean says she saw people who were “really, really bloody.”

Canadian Steve Di Tomaso had finished the race and was in a Starbucks a couple of blocks from the finish line, when he heard two explosions, about 10 to 15 seconds apart.

“Then we saw people running away. There was one explosion and then another and nobody knew what was happening.”

“There was a lot of confusion,” he said. “People were just in the finishing area – a lot of participants in the marathon were moving as fast as they could and clearing the streets.”

The runners closest to the explosion were probably those finishing with times of about four hours.

Rami Bardeesy, a Halifax runner, was staying in the Fairmount Copley Plaza, a block from where the explosions took place. All of the runners from Nova Scotia had finished the race before the explosions happened.

Bardeesy said inside the hotel, he and other runners heard two explosions, which he described as “a deep rumbling boom almost like a sharp impact, like it wasn’t something exploding, like something falling.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8qhvn2k3c4&w=620&h=349]

“We were thinking about making plans to go out … and we were told the hotel was in lockdown,” he said.

A veteran of the Boston Marathon, Bardeesy said security at the event has always been visible, but not intrusive.

Penny, the Calgary runner, said that after the blasts he made a beeline for his hotel, where he reunited with his wife and seven-year-old daughter.

He told Postmedia News he had run the Boston Marathon in 2009, and Monday contemplated taking another stroll by the finish line on his way back to the hotel, but decided against it because of the crowds.

Charles Krupa / The Associated PressMedical workers wheel the injured across the finish line during the 2013 Boston Marathon following an explosion in Boston, Monday.

“I could easily have been walking by there,” Penny said. “You walk away going, ‘Wow, a different turn could’ve been a different impact on your life.’”

Jordan Back, of North Vancouver, was doing the run with eight other people from his club. It was his “dream” to qualify and run in Boston.

He’s done lots of other marathons, but this was his first time in Boston. He finished in two hours and 41 minutes, then quickly got on train and headed back to hotel about two kilometres from finish line. About 40 minutes later he started hearing the sirens.

Kelvin Ma/BloombergFirst responders rush to where two explosions occurred along the final stretch of the Boston Marathon on Boylston Street in Boston.

“It’s absolutely horrible,” he said. “Another thing that is a sad irony – this race was a tribute to the 26 adults and children killed in Newtown, Connecticut and they were dedicating these 26 miles to these 26 lives. To think that something this horrible could happen on a day when we were paying respect to those individuals … is really just hard to grasp.”

Prime Minister Stephen Harper put out a statement saying he was “shocked to learn of the explosions that occurred today during the running of the Boston Marathon. It is truly a sad day when an event as inspiring as the Boston Marathon is clouded by such senseless violence. “

Two bombs exploded in the packed streets near the finish line of the Boston Marathon on Monday, killing two people and injuring up to 100 others in a terrifying scene of shattered glass, billowing smoke, bloodstained pavement and severed limbs, authorities said.

A fire broke out at the John F. Kennedy Library a few miles away. The police commissioner said it may have been caused by an incendiary device but it didn’t appear to be related to the bombings. A senior U.S. intelligence official said two other explosive devices were found near the marathon finish line.

Related

There was no word on the motive or who may have launched the attack, and authorities in Washington said there was no immediate claim of responsibility.

David L Ryan/Boston Globe Staff PhotoThe second explosion goes off

John Tlumacki/The Boston Globe A man tries to comfort a victim near the scene of the first explosion near the finish line of the Boston Marathon

The twin blasts at the race took place almost simultaneously and about 100 yards apart, tearing limbs off numerous people, knocking spectators and at least one runner off their feet, shattering windows and sending smoke rising over the street.

As people wailed in agony, bloody spectators were carried to a medical tent that had been set up to care for fatigued runners.

“They just started bringing people in in with no limbs,” said Tim Davey, of Richmond, Va. He said he and his wife, Lisa, tried to keep their children’s eyes shielded from the gruesome scene.

AP Photo/The Boston Globe, John TlumackiPeople react to the second explosion

“They just kept filling up with more and more casualties,” Lisa Davey said. “Most everybody was conscious. They were very dazed.”

AP Photo/Charles KrupaMedical workers aid injured people at the finish line

Kelvin Ma/BloombergTwo powerful explosions rocked the finish line area of the Boston Marathon near Copley Square and police said many people were injured.

Some 27,000 runners took part in the 26.2-mile race, one of the world’s premier marathons and one of Boston’s biggest annual events.

After the explosions, cellphone service was shut down in the area to prevent any possible remote explosive detonations, a law enforcement official said. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation was ongoing.

Kelvin Ma/BloombergFirst responders tend to the wounded in Boston

Boston Police Commissioner Edward Davis asked people to stay indoors or go back to their hotel rooms and avoid crowds as bomb squads checked parcels and bags left along the race route.

AP Photo/Charles KrupaMedical workers aid injured

The Federal Aviation Administration barred low-flying aircraft from within 3.5 miles of the site.

President Barack Obama was briefed on the explosions by Homeland Security adviser Lisa Monaco. Obama also told Mayor Tom Menino and Gov. Deval Patrick that his administration would provide whatever support was needed, the White House said.

AP Photo/Charles Krupa

“There are people who are really, really bloody,” said Laura McLean, a runner from Toronto, who was in the medical tent being treated for dehydration when she was pulled out to make room for victims.

Kelvin Ma/BloombergFirst responders tend to the wounded

About two hours after the winners crossed the line, there was a loud explosion on the north side of Boylston Street, just before the photo bridge that marks the finish line. Another explosion could be heard a few seconds later.

Alex Trautwig/Getty ImagesA member of the bomb squad investigates a suspicious item on the road near Kenmore Square

The Boston Police Department said two people were killed. Hospitals reported at least 57 injured, at least eight of them critically.

A senior U.S. intelligence official said the two other explosive devices found nearby were being dismantled. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the findings publicly.

Competitors and race volunteers were crying as they fled the chaos. Authorities went onto the course to carry away the injured while race stragglers were rerouted away from the smoking site.

Roupen Bastajian, a 35-year-old state trooper from Smithfield, R.I., had just finished the race when they put the heat blanket wrap on him and he heard the blasts.

“I started running toward the blast. And there were people all over the floor,” he said. “We started grabbing tourniquets and started tying legs. A lot of people amputated. … At least 25 to 30 people have at least one leg missing, or an ankle missing, or two legs missing.”

Smoke rose from the blasts, fluttering through the national flags lining the route of the world’s oldest and most prestigious marathon. TV helicopter footage showed blood staining the pavement in the popular shopping and tourist area known as the Back Bay.

Cherie Falgoust was waiting for her husband, who was running the race.

“I was expecting my husband any minute,” she said. “I don’t know what this building is … it just blew. Just a big bomb, a loud boom, and then glass everywhere. Something hit my head. I don’t know what it was. I just ducked.”

Runners who had not finished the race were diverted straight down Commonwealth Avenue and into a family meeting area, according to an emergency plan that had been in place.

The Boston Marathon honored the victims of the Newtown, Conn., shooting with a special mile marker in Monday’s race.

Boston Athletic Association president Joanne Flaminio previously said there was “special significance” to the fact that the race is 26.2 miles long and 26 people died at Sandy Hook Elementary school.

The final runners of the Boston Marathon were trickling in Monday afternoon when twin bombs exploded near the finish line raising alarms that terrorists might have struck again in the U.S.

But as the FBI took charge of the investigation, authorities shed no light on a motive or who may have carried out the bombings, and police said they had no suspects in custody.

The fiery twin blasts took place about 10 seconds and about 100 yards apart, felling athletes, spewing smoke and debris into the air and killing at least three people, including an eight-year-old boy.

Blood stained the pavement, and huge shards were missing from window panes as high as three stories.

Almost immediately, bystanders began noticing a commonality to the carnage that left at least 144 people injured, at least 17 of them critically: Many of them were missing legs. The victims’ injuries also included broken bones, shrapnel wounds and ruptured eardrums. CNN reported that doctors performed 10 amputations.

At Massachusetts General Hospital, Alasdair Conn, chief of emergency services, said: “This is something I’ve never seen in my 25 years here … this amount of carnage in the civilian population. This is what we expect from war.”

“They just started bringing people in with no limbs,” runner Tim Davey, of Richmond, Virginia, told The Boston Globe.

MetroWest Daily News, Ken McGagh / The Associated PressA Boston Marathon competitor and Boston police run from the area of an explosion near the finish line in Boston, Monday, April 15, 2013.

He said he and his wife, Lisa, tried to keep their children’s eyes shielded from the gruesome scene, but “they saw a lot.”

Initial reports said that the two bombs were small, homemade devices hidden in garbage cans or mailboxes along the marathon route. A CNN report claimed that doctors were pulling ball bearings from the injured, indicating that the bombs may have been packed with metal to cause maximum damage.

In an address to the nation, President Barack Obama vowed to bring the criminals to justice.

“We still do not know who did this or why. And people shouldn’t jump to conclusions before we have all the facts,” he said. “But make no mistake. We will get to the bottom of this. … Any responsible individuals, any responsible groups will feel the full weight of justice.”

CLICK TO ENLARGE

A White House official speaking on condition of anonymity because the investigation was still unfolding said the attack was being treated as an act of terrorism.

As of Monday night, there were no claims of responsibility and no suspects had been identified — although a person briefed on preliminary developments in the investigation said that members of Boston’s Joint Terrorist Task Force had been dispatched to a Boston-area hospital to interview a wounded man seen running from the scene.

WBZ-TV reported late Monday that law enforcement officers were searching an apartment in the Boston suburb of Revere. Massachusetts State Police confirmed that a search warrant related to the investigation into the explosions was served Monday night in Revere but provided no further details.

The race’s elite runners, including Ethiopian-born men’s winner Lelisa Desisa, had crossed the finish line hours before the blast, and by early afternoon, the area around Boylston Street — the traditional last stretch of the race — had filled with relatives and friends cheering on the slow moving “recreational runners” still jogging to a finish.

Something just blew up

The first explosion, which struck at about 2.50 p.m., detonated with a concussive thunderclap and sent a column of smoke billowing over downtown Boston.

“Something just blew up,” said a dazed spectator just down the street, only a split second before a second thunderclap shattered windows and sent bystanders running for cover.

In the bloody aftermath, medical tents in place to attend to fatigued runners suddenly began filling with the wounded, their clothes bloodied and their hair burnt.

At the city’s Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, one hospital official said Monday night it was likely some of the wounded would not make it through the night.

Four children, a nine-year-old, a seven-year-old, a 12-year-old and a two-year-old, were hospitalized, according to a Children’s Hospital source quoted by The Boston Globe.

Thom Kenney, a 43-year-old Army veteran who had recently returned from Afghanistan, told the Wall Street Journal that “it sounded like an IED.”

A video shot by a bystander in the seconds after the explosion shows police, civilians and uniformed soldiers rushing through the smoky haze to tear away fencing and flags lining the street to clear a path for ambulances.

From scattered glimpses through the crowd of first responders, it is clear that the sidewalk in front of Forum, a high-end Boylston St. bar, is already thick with blood.

“It was just immediately [evident] there were injuries, right in the middle of the spectator crowds,” Boston.com sports producer Steve Silva wrote in a Monday afternoon blog post. “There was blood everywhere, there were victims being carried out on stretchers.”

Roupen Bastajian, a 35-year-old state trooper from Rhode Island, had just finished the race when he heard the first blast.

“I started running toward the blast. And there were people all over the floor,” he said. “We started grabbing tourniquets and started tying legs… At least 25 to 30 people have at least one leg missing, or an ankle missing, or two legs missing.”

A particularly graphic photo taken by The Associated Press shows medical officials pushing a wheelchair carrying a dazed young man, his legs chewed into a bloody tangle of bones and tendons.

More than 20,000 people, including 2,078 Canadians, were registered to run the marathon, which is the world’s oldest. One of Boston’s biggest annual events, the race winds up near Copley Square, not far from the landmark Prudential Center and the Boston Public Library.

The attacks quickly propelled Boston into full-scale terror alert. As bomb-sniffing dogs were dispatched to sweep the scene, two more explosives were found near the scene and dismantled, according to an unnamed senior U.S. intelligence official cited by The Associated Press.

Boston Police Commissioner Edward Davis asked people to stay indoors or go back to their hotel rooms and avoid crowds as bomb squads methodically checked parcels and bags left along the race route.

Police have not called the incident a terrorist attack, but “you can reach your own conclusion,” Davis said.

John Tlumacki/The Boston GlobeBoston police officers and Bill Iffrig just after an explosion near the finish line of the Boston Marathon, Monday, April 15, 2013.

Police ordered all cell service to be shut down in the Boston area in order to prevent remote detonations, transit service was suspended and the FAA established a no-fly-zone around the Massachusetts capital.

The Federal Aviation Administration barred low-flying aircraft within 3.5 miles of the site.

With scant official information to guide them, members of Congress said there was little or no doubt it was an act of terrorism.

“We just don’t know whether it’s foreign or domestic,” said Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security.

TwitterPicture taken of the explosion at the finish of the Boston Marathon.

The marathon explosions seem to have occurred without a hint of warning. Boston Police Commissioner Edward Davis said authorities had received “no specific intelligence that anything was going to happen” at the race.

All along the eastern seaboard, news of the blasts prompted an immediate tightening of security. In New York City, anti-terror units were scrambled to step up security at “strategic locations and critical infrastructure,” including subways, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said.

A few miles away from the finish line and around the same time, a fire broke out at the John F. Kennedy Library. The police commissioner said that it may have been caused by an incendiary device but that it was not clear whether it was related to the bombings.

“It is truly a sad day when an event as inspiring as the Boston Marathon is clouded by such senseless violence,” wrote Prime Minister Stephen Harper in a statement.

Monday was Patriot’s Day, a civic holiday in Massachusetts and an anniversary commemorating the day British troops clashed with patriots while attempting to seize their weapons stores, prompting the first shots of the Revolutionary War.

The first explosion occurred on the north side of Boylston Street, just before the finish line, and some people initially thought it was a celebratory cannon blast.

When the second bomb went off, spectators’ cheers turned to screams. As sirens blared, emergency workers and National Guardsmen who had been assigned to the race for crowd control began climbing over and tearing down temporary fences to get to the blast site.

The bombings occurred about four hours into the race and two hours after the men’s winner crossed the finish line. By that point, more than 17,000 of the athletes had finished the marathon, but thousands more were still running.

John Tlumacki/Boston GlobeA man comforts a victim on the sidewalk at the scene of the 1st explosion At the finish line of the Boston Marathon.

The attack may have been timed for maximum carnage: The four-hour mark is typically a crowded time near the finish line because of the slow-but-steady recreational runners completing the race and because of all the friends and relatives clustered around to cheer them on.

Runners in the medical tent for treatment of dehydration or other race-related ills were pushed out to make room for victims of the bombing.

A woman who was a few feet from the second bomb, Brighid Wall, 35, of Duxbury, said that when it exploded, runners and spectators froze, unsure of what to do. Her husband threw their children to the ground, lay on top of them and another man lay on top of them and said, “Don’t get up, don’t get up.”

After a minute or so without another explosion, Wall said, she and her family headed to a Starbucks and out the back door through an alley. Around them, the windows of the bars and restaurants were blown out.

Alex Trautwig/Getty ImagesA member of the bomb squad investigates a suspicious item on the road near Kenmore Square after two bombs exploded during the 117th Boston Marathon on April 15, 2013 in Boston, Massachusetts. Two people are confirmed dead and at least 23 injured after two explosions went off near the finish line to the marathon.

She said she saw six to eight people bleeding profusely, including one man who was kneeling, dazed, with blood trickling down his head. Another person was on the ground covered in blood and not moving.

“My ears are zinging. Their ears are zinging,” Wall said. “It was so forceful. It knocked us to the ground.”

Competitors and race volunteers were crying as they fled the chaos. Authorities went onto the course to carry away the injured, while race stragglers were rerouted away from the smoking site.

“We’re runners here, and running is such an event, you have people from 90 countries here for this race today,” said Canadian runner Rob Watson, who finished 11th in the men’s race.

“It brings everybody together. We’re all here, we’re all together, it’s a great feeling to finish a marathon and there’s such a camaraderie. It’s so senseless, why would you do that? It’s just so so upsetting. It’s just terrible. Why would people do something like that?”

AP Photo/The Boston Globe, John TlumackiPeople react to an explosion at the 2013 Boston Marathon in Boston, Monday, April 15, 2013. Two explosions shattered the euphoria of the Boston Marathon finish line on Monday, sending authorities out on the course to carry off the injured while the stragglers were rerouted away from the smoking site of the blasts.

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden used the word “bombing” to describe the incident while speaking on a conference call on gun control, but did not indicate if he was just learning of the incident from television reports or was briefed by officials.

“Apparently there has been a bombing. I just turned on the TV… I don’t know any of the details,” Biden said. “Our prayers are with those people in Boston who have suffered injuries. I don’t know how many there are.”

As the president was being briefed on the incident, the Secret Service quickly expanded its security perimeter at the White House. The agency shut down Pennsylvania Avenue and cordoned off the area with yellow police tape. Several Secret Service patrol cars also blocked off the entry points to the road.

“There are a lot of people down,” said one man, whose bib No. 17528 identified him as Frank Deruyter of North Carolina. He was not injured, but marathon workers were carrying one woman, who did not appear to be a runner, to the medical area as blood gushed from her leg. A Boston police officer was wheeled from the course with a leg injury that was bleeding.

There are people who are really, really bloody

“There are people who are really, really bloody,” said Laura McLean, a runner from Toronto, who was in the medical tent being treated for dehydration when she was pulled out to make room for victims of the explosions. “They were pulling them into the medical tent.”

Cherie Falgoust was waiting for her husband, who was running the race.

“I was expecting my husband any minute,” she said. “I don’t know what this building is … it just blew. Just a big bomb, a loud boom, and then glass everywhere. Something hit my head. I don’t know what it was. I just ducked.”

A block away from the Boston Marathon finish line, Kiley, a 28-year-old Tuft’s University student who declined to share his last name, was at Max Brenner restaurants with his friends when he heard a huge crash, like “something very large, a display or furniture crashed very loud to the floor. You could kind of feel the vibration,” he said by phone from Boston. It wasn’t until the second crash reverberated through the building that utter chaos ensued.

John Tlumacki/The Boston GlobeThe scene moments after an explosion near the finish line of the Boston Marathon, Monday, April 15, 2013.

“Everyone freaked out,” he said. “It was just a huge panic. Everyone was out of their seats, just running around and scrambling. A bunch of people scrambled toward the restroom and I think we realized that wasn’t a good idea. I think we weren’t sure if it was one of those shooting sprees, or like nobody knew what was going on. And then eventually we all just bottlenecked through the backdoor. Chairs were flying everywhere blocking our path and everyone was trying to squish through the back.”

When they made it to the alley, people frantically tried punching into their cellphones, rendered useless by the clogged airwaves. There was a putrid smell of smoke in the air, he said.

“One of my friends said ‘let’s get as far away as we can, we don’t know if it’s poisonous or chemical or radioactive.’ We basically just got as far away as we could. Luckily there weren’t so many people that we couldn’t quickly get away. It was really scary.”

The search for people missing after the race was made difficult because heavy cellphone use caused slow and delayed service. In an age connected by everything digital, the hours after the blasts produced a tense silence.

Google stepped in to help family and friends of runners find their loved ones, setting up a site called Google Person Finder that allows users to enter the name of a person they’re looking for or enter information about someone who was there. A few hours after the explosion, the site indicated it was tracking 3,600 records.

Runners who had not finished the race were diverted straight down Commonwealth Avenue and into a family meeting area, according to an emergency plan that had been in place.

“This is a horrific day in Boston. My thoughts and prayers are with those who have been injured,” Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick said in a statement. “Our focus is on making sure that the area around Copley Square is safe and secured. I am asking everyone to stay away from Copley Square and let the first responders do their jobs.”

Prime Minister Stephen Harper released a statement early Monday evening.

“I was shocked to learn of the explosions that occurred today during the running of the Boston Marathon. It is truly a sad day when an event as inspiring as the Boston Marathon is clouded by such senseless violence,” he said.

British police are reviewing security plans for Sunday’s London Marathon, the next major international marathon, because the blasts in Boston.

London has long been considered a top target for international terrorists, with the government saying the threat level is “substantial.” In 2005, a series of suicide attacks on the public transport system in the British capital killed 52 people.

National Post, with files from The Canadian Press, The Associated Press and wire services